That’s the title of a short appendix in this book:

Vern S. Poythress. Chance and the Sovereignty of God: A God-Centered Approach to Probability and Random Events. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Here’s what Poythress calls “The Real Problem with Gambling” (pp. 279–81):

The preceding appendix has analyzed a number of gambling systems by which gamblers hope to “beat the odds” and make a killing. We could consider still more systems. In each case, careful calculations of the probabilities show that the gambler will not win in the long run. In fact, in casino games the probabilities are always stacked against the customer, so that in the long run the casino consistently takes in money from every form of gambling that it offers on its premises.

The calculation of probabilities is a form of mathematics—specifically, the mathematical theory of probability. So it has jokingly been said that gambling is a form of tax on nonmathematicians. The mathematicians know better, because they can do the calculations. More accurately, it could be said that gambling is a tax on people who do not know probability theory.

KNOWLEDGE NOT ENOUGH

But the real problem with gambling does not consist merely in ignorance. It is possible to know the theory and still be tempted to gamble. The temptation arises partly because sin in essence is irrational. It is rebellion against God. According to Romans 1:18–25, all human beings already know God inescapably. It does not make sense to engage in rebellion.

TEMPTATION

But we can see some specific forms of temptations in gambling. The mathematical theory of probability must start with some assumptions about the nature of events—for instance, that some events are probabilistically independent of one another. The outcomes of successive flips of a coin, or the outcomes of successive spins of a roulette wheel, are probabilistically independent. If they were not, it might be possible to find a winning system by observing a pattern in a large enough number of previous outcomes.

Gamblers may or may not be aware of the technical concept of probabilistic independence. Whatever awareness they have, in practice they want to believe that the events do contain some secret patterns. They want to believe, partly because if it were true, they might achieve marvelous success. It is as if they invest hope in a utopian story of winning, and they behave as if they partly believe it. Their own desires urge them to believe in it, even if part of their mind tells them otherwise.

So why should we believe or not believe that the spins of a roulette wheel are probabilistically independent of one another? What establishes such independence? In reality, it is God who ordains all probabilities. Our convictions about probability must ultimately go back to God. And so they depend on what kind of God we believe in. The issue of Romans 1:18–25, where people substitute an idol or a counterfeit for the true God, rises to the surface.

THE GODS OF GAMBLERS

Gamblers who hope to beat the odds do not really accept the God of the Bible. He does not match their desires for the way that they want the world to be and what they hope the world will be, for the sake of achieving prosperity in their lives. Their desires are twisted, as are the desires of all sinful people. Gamblers may look foolish to those of us who see through the foolishness of gambling. But we all fall captive, each in our own way, to substitutes and idols of one kind or another, because desire resides within us to make ourselves gods. Gamblers just have one particular form of the desire, where their desire to be rich and to boast in their luck is a desire that makes them serve false gods. They serve the god of self. At the same time they make Lady Luck into a goddess to serve, in order to serve the deeper god of self.

Gamblers have false gods. They have such false gods because they fail in knowing God and in experiencing fellowship with God. That is the root. Gambling is a tax on alienation from God.

Should we be surprised? The book of Proverbs has been telling us all along that there is a kind of “tax” on sin. Proverbs begins with a contrast between the wisdom of communion with God and the folly of alienation from him:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Prov. 1:7)

Folly leads to “taxes”:

a babbling fool will come to ruin. (Prov. 10:8)

the fool will be servant to the wise of heart. (11:29)

By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back. (14:3)

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh. (Eccles. 4:5)

So the “tax” on gamblers is one form of the tax on fools, which in turn is one form of the tax on alienation from God. If you want to live your life well and fruitfully, the way to do so is to live your life as God in his wisdom intends it. This you will find if you come through Christ to have fellowship with God. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

More about the book:

1. Download a free PDF.
2. John Frame’s endorsement: “Many think Calvinists simply reject the idea of chance, random events, and probability. But that is not entirely true. My friend Vern Poythress shows in this book that the God of the Bible—and of Calvin—is in fact the foundation, both of causation and of randomness in the world. Poythress is well-suited to develop this argument, with doctorates in both New Testament and mathematics, and as the author of important recent books on logic and science. I do not fully understand the mathematics of this book, but the theology is entirely biblical, and I can’t imagine a better place to start for readers interested in this subject matter.”
3. Of God and Slot Machines: An Interview with Vern Poythress
4. A less-than-3-minute video of Vern Poythress talking about his book

Related:

1. What We Should Do with Our Money
2. How Addiction Works
3. John Piper, “Why Is Gambling Wrong?“
4. John Piper, “Don’t Play the Lottery for Me!“